Charlottetown – The Island Government has been responsive to CUPE PEI’s recommendations for the 2022-2023 budget, but there remains still much more to do.

The Union notes positive investments in public transit and social assistance levels: “Fuel, food and overall cost of living is going up, so we are relieved to see action on those files,” said Leonard Gallant, President of CUPE PEI. “Many of our recommendations have been addressed, and that is remarkable,”

After a difficult year with low staffing hurting workers in healthcare and long-term care, CUPE PEI is relieved to see measures to improve staffing levels in hospitals. “This Government has no choice but to deal with the recruitment and retention crisis. I hope the much needed LTC review will recognize COVID-19 amplified a problem that existed long before. Workers need the measures and investments promised put in place as soon as possible,” said Gallant.

On housing, CUPE PEI had advocated and lobbied government to develop a coherent system to protect tenants from ever increasing costs, while improving the affordable housing offer. “This year’s budget contains a $5 million fund to help municipalities increase housing starts, but the affordable housing portion lacks details. The housing crisis is deepening for middle and low-income Islanders. I think the government should have been more aggressive in providing the funds to protect tenants and better target publicly owned affordable housing,” said Gallant.

“We welcome the major federal-provincial investment in childcare this year. That is certainly a big plus, but nowhere do we see that the provincial Government will focus on creating publicly owned and/or not-for profit operated spaces,” said Gallant. Rather, this government said they prefer to “work with the industry”. We hope Premier King will recognize that parents need affordable and universal childcare, where the profit-making business approach should not be the principal model out there.

“One big missing item which I mention every year is the need of a more progressive taxation system. Billionaires and millionaires have made record profits during the pandemic. Yet our government still lets them off with unjustifiably low corporate tax rate of 1%. If this rate is not adjusted, the “pandemic bill” will end up being footed by those who benefited the least and did the heavy lifting to get us out of the crisis,” concluded Gallant.

Charlottetown – Four union locals representing more than 1 300 education sector workers breathe a sigh of relief as it was announced Tuesday afternoon that PEI schools have pushed back in-person learning to January 17, 2022.

Before Tuesday’s announcement by Dr. Morrison, students were to return to classrooms for in-person learning on January 10. This deadline had education workers worried about the students’ and workers’ safety.

“The four union locals (CUPE Locals 1145, 1770, 1775 & 3260) had productive talks with the Director of the Public Schools Branch and the HR Director this morning, before today’s announcement,” said Karen Tsistinas, CUPE National Representative. “We were concerned with the potential return to work next week and discussed the consideration of pushing back the in-person learning date, as we felt rushing this jeopardized workers’ and students’ well-being and safety,” she added.

The education system is a unique structure. Following COVID protocols is not easy, as you can have at times 70 students on a bus over 20 students in classrooms, and many students moving to and from class. “The union and the employers are committed to finding solutions to minimize these numbers to reduce overall contacts.  The concerns of staff and student safety and the need for specific guidelines are of utmost importance and must be adhered to by both staff and students in order to safely administer a Respite Program. Members are anxiously waiting to hear what this program will look like and getting back to working with their students,” said Karen Tsistinas, CUPE National Representative.

“Management has been receptive to the concerns we bring forward on behalf of our members and we are pleased to maintain the collaborative approach we developed during the pandemic. Staff is looking forward to being back with the students and working with them in a safe environment,” added Tsistinas.

In the meeting, directors committed to providing human resource support for all categories of work, including increased short-term staffing. “As we are examining their January 17 plan, we are relieved to see there has been some thought put in to deal with the workload increases and addressing shortfalls in staffing ahead of us,” concluded Tsistinas.

• CUPE Local 3260 represents over 800 Educational Assistants and Youth Service Workers, Student Attendants, Workplace Assistants, and English Language Interpreters in the PEI school system. Carolyn Vandaele is the president.
• CUPE Local 1145 represents more than 350 school bus drivers. Jason MacKinnon is the president.
• CUPE Local 1770 represents over 130 administrative support workers. The acting president is Sawyer Murphy.
• CUPE Local 1775 represents over 340 property maintenance workers in schools. John Doucette is the president.

Charlottetown – June 15, 2021 –  CUPE PEI expresses grave concerns over reports that LGBTQ2+ students were faced with harassment and intimidation at the East Wiltshire School in Cornwall. CUPE PEI reiterates the importance of safe spaces in PEI Schools. Our members are committed to doing our part to make schools a safe environment for all students and employees.

On Monday morning, CUPE PEI leadership was present at the peaceful vigil in support of LGBTQ2+ students at the East Wiltshire School: “I was happy to see so many folks from the community and members of CUPE local 3260 representing educational workers,” said Leonard Gallant, President of CUPE PEI.

“There was a lot of noise made about the recent events, and that’s good. It means we, as a society, are confronting the ugly truth that we should be doing better to end discrimination against LGBTQ2+ students,” he added.

CUPE PEI is committed to fighting discrimination and hate in our workplaces and in our communities. “We must work every day to ensure everybody can work and study in an environment free from prejudice, harassment, bullying and intimidation,” said Gallant.

Every year, CUPE celebrates June as Pride Month. “Pride month is not just a time to celebrate, it’s also a time to reflect and to recommit ourselves to fight against all forms of oppression against LGBTQ2+ people. There is still much progress to be made,” concluded Gallant.

CUPE PEI concluded its 41^st annual convention – it’s second virtual one – on Friday, May 21, 2021.

More than 100 guests, observers and delegates representing CUPE locals from across the province, participated in the Virtual AGM, which began Thursday night.

Friday, many strong resolutions were passed, such as the following :

• Lobby government to Increase affordable and accessible housing, including co-op housing for all Islanders
• Lobby government to Bring the paramedic service in-house and have it under the Department of Health.
• Lobby government to incorporate Health and Safety training as part of the school curriculum during the years of grade 7 to grade 9.
• Ensure government proclaim April 28th as the “Day of Mourning for Persons Killed or Injured in the Workplace” in perpetuity on Prince Edward Island.

The convention delegates also reiterated the Division’s commitment to push for a Universal National Pharmacare program.

On the Federal labour front, delegates voted to endorse the Team Unite slate (Bea Bruske for President, Lily Chang for Secretary-Treasurer and Siobhan Vipond for Executive Vice-President) for the coming Canadian Labour Congress Convention elections.

Following resolutions, CUPE National President Mark Hancock and National Secretary Treasurer (NSTO) Charles Fleury delivered speeches. Both reminding us all just how much the pandemic showed cracks in our social safety net and the need to improve public services for all Islanders.

At this year’s convention, the union donated over $11,400.00 for the Easter Seals, a not-for-profit organization, working in partnership with persons with disabilities.

After Regional Director Sandy Harding addressed the convention, elections were held and the positions were filled:

• President (Leonard Gallant, 2-year term)
• Secretary-Treasurer (Linda Jones, 2-year term)
• Health Care East Employees (Bobby Kennedy, 2-year term)
• Education West Employees (Karyn Noble, 2 -year term)
• Island EMS, Atlantic Baptist Nursing & Group Homes (Donna Gormley, 2-year term)
• UPEI 1870 & UPEI Security Police (Tracy Carmichael, 2-year term)
• Trustee (John Ochsner , 3-year term)

Leonard Gallant was re-elected for a 2-year term as provincial president of the PEI Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“The past year was not easy, but we continued doing our best for our members despite the challenges,” said Leonard Gallant. I thank all the outgoing leaders, like Brother Jason Woodbury and so many others. Your dedication does not go unnoticed. To all delegates, thank you for giving me the opportunity to continue the work we began two years ago,” he added.

Charlottetown, March 12, 2021 – Today, PEI Finance Minister Darlene Compton announced a reasonable provincial operations budget, which integrates and will implement many CUPE recommendations. The bulk of the budget focuses on healthcare improvements and many community-support measures.

“More than ever, it is time to focus on people and their well-being. It’s reassuring to see the PEI Government decided to not just maintain services and assistance residents rely on, but to invest in them,” said Gallant. “This is crucial for the coming recovery. I consider this a little victory,” said Leonard Gallant, President of CUPE PEI.

CUPE welcomes investments in childcare spaces and calls on the government to ensure that these spaces remain affordable and publicly run facilities. Healthcare investments, notably on access to care for rural residents, seniors’ care, mental health and addiction care will not go unnoticed. “A $4 million investment for 80 new front-line positions in our schools, including teachers, autism consultants, educational assistants, and bus drivers are well taken,” said Gallant.

Our union had advocated and lobbied government to develop a comprehensive public transit system in the province. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure will now have the funds ($250,000) to have experts study and publish a public transit plan by summer 2021. “I call on the government to use the funds to increase the capacity of the public service to develop this plan, and not to privatize the consulting services needed on this important initiative,” said Gallant.  “I am glad to see they listened to workers and will implement pilot routes in the coming September,” he added.

Government has also recognized it has to deal with the growing housing crisis. “While the rent supplement program is not the best way to deal with the issue and lacks ambition, I am glad to see government recognizes the need to do more on this file,” said Gallant.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see increased funding to Legal Aid and the Human Rights Commission to improve access to justice,” added Gallant. CUPE PEI also notes the positive increase made to the Black cultural society, Pride PEI, PEERS Alliance and to the Interministerial Women Secretariat.  “This recognizes how the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and marginalized communities, and that no one should be left behind,” said Gallant.

“One big missing item which I would have loved to see is a more progressive taxation system. With a reasonable increase in revenues from corporate and top income earners, we could have top of the line childcare and health services to really kick-start our recovery,” concluded Gallant.

Charlottetown – The PEI Throne speech, skillfully delivered by Lt. Governor Antoinette Perry, contained many interesting proposals for Island workers.

“Beyond the well-received gratitude and thanks to front-line workers, including public sector workers of all stripes, we appreciate it’s consensus-building content and tone,” said Leonard Gallant, President of CUPE PEI.

CUPE PEI is also interested in initiatives such as the improvements to the “Care at Home” program, supports preventing gender-based violence, protections for temporary-foreign workers along anti-poverty measures and a stronger Freedom of Information Act.

“Of course, the devil will be in the details, but I can say that it’s great to hear that there is a path to get towards a universal childcare program, have more front line supports for recruitment and retention and help for our seniors,” added Gallant.

However, CUPE PEI is alarmed by the creation of three “Tax-Free development zones” for Green tech companies that want to do work on PEI.  “Creating more tax havens is a bad idea for the long term, it deepens the problem of legalized tax avoidance. This, in turn, accelerates the race to the bottom (in terms of taxation) with other jurisdictions, and denies crucial funding to municipalities, public services and provincial governments,” noted Gallant.

“Everybody needs to do their share, from individuals to businesses, to help in the recovery and to fund schools, hospitals, clean drinking water, etc.,” said Gallant. “Being “Green” should never absolve anyone from upholding basic “corporate citizen” duties.